OK, neither do I do always I agree with Smart's particular way of public self-expression,or care about his games ( just not my cup of tea), nor do I know what actually happened between him and DC,BUT, I did have one very brief experience with him and one a bit more extensive with DC.

Quite some time ago I exchanged a few emails about possibly doing some work for him. we negotiated, couldn't agree on the price and that was that. in these mails he was polite, clear and up front about what he demands and what he gives and although we obviously did not get to work together it was a rather pleasant experience. no fuss, no harm, no beating around the bush. wonderful.

what I have seen from DC was the exact opposite. negotiations, talks, contract drafts going back and forth delays etc.. for many months. Unfortunately I can't give away any details about this, and I am not accusing anybody of anything, but my subjective personal impression did not go in favor of DC's business practice.

All I want to say with this is, just cause DS shows an eccentric attitude in the so called online community, it doesn't necessarily mean that all he says is wrong or untrue .Maybe he screws DC, maybe they screwed him, none of us who are not involved directly, will really ever know, thus none of us shall judge.

Jeeez, I don't get it. Sad and ridiculous enough that Hollywood starts to look at games for their scripts,- I mean, since when do games have any story that is REALLY worth telling - but hey, doing a Doom3 movie ( if you really must) and then replacing the essential hell/mars/satan theme with a different plot that is just as dumb if not dumber, is so stupid, that it hurts. on the other hand.. it's just plain funny.

everybody here and I mean everybody without exceptions, who can't understand that people who can't access the game due to the steam mess, get really piss, worry me. there is no debating over this. folks who bought the game just as you, but aren't "allowed" to play it yet have all the reason and right to be utterly upset and bash valve&steam on that matter. not that most with a brain didn't see this coming, but yet one would assume that valve should have been prepared when they set out to make such a bold attempt of new distribution.yes I was lucky enough, to get it all registered, authorized and unlocked early in the morning and I do love the game. nevertheless, steam leaves a bad taste behindand I certainly feel for those who are still locked out. at this point, its encouraging cracks.

I beg to differ. I'm very excited to get my copy of Doom 3 and pretty sure I'll love it, but the facial animation in Doom3 is by all we know not even close to HL2. I really don't mean this as another stupid "Hl2 against Doom3" posting , as I (just as every itelligent person would) hope that I will like both games for the different gaming experience they promis to offer.

#107.#110.Oh come one Derek. I akways had a certain respect and sympathy for what an excentric fellow you are. you do have quite some profile, regardless if it's pretty or ugly. But that was just really below weak. sit back and try again.

yeah.. right.. like Serious Sam for example sucked so bad and had such a horrible looking engine, or Stalker looks really to be the top sucker of all times.but of course every game from a western country is just great, no matter what.BAMM! and then you suddenly woke up... sheesh, what a stupid dream .

25.that is exactly it, for me too. I want a game that surprises me again. nothing bad about a ww2 game, but you start it and oyu already now where it will go from there. this time maybe with better AI and better AI teamwork, better graphics, more realism.. whatever, but in the end there's no surprise waiting for you. that's my whole problem with that kind of games.I guess it all depends on the reason people play games, which certainly differ a lot. some play mainly for the combat, some for exploring a world of imagination, some for the gore, etc...

#41#42Sounds good MacD and no question, if you put all your free time and energy into something, you sure as hell want it to be recognized. nothing's wrong with that, but I agree with MacD, that its at least possible,if your project is really done with passion and executed well, it might create its own market. it doesn't happen every day, but it does. its actually the only way new markets can come up. you can't know if there is demand for something until your throw it on the market. that's also at the heart of capitalism, to create demands people wouldn't dream before that they have. in fact that's what keeps the whole pc industry alive.

#40. hey, actually I do enjoy the discussion as well and didn't perceive you as a jackass(well..at least not anymore after your last 3 posts .

I am realistic too, but for one I don't want realism turn into fatalism and for the other, reality does show that at least once in a while, periodically someone somewhere pulls off something original and succeeds because of exactly that. if it weren't so we'd still be playing space invaders

I must also say.. I don't really "demand" or expect the mega hyper total innovation.I'm already pleased with a distinct different visual twist. Like.. on the gameplay side those war shooters ,especially squad based do have a lot to offer, but you can follow the same play mechanism in a different setting and different visual style. Freedom Fighters would be somewhat of an example for that.I agree.. many titles that seemed somewhat fresh, where actually a mish-mash of the old, but its like with cooking,where a different combination of the same spices can make up for a new wonderful dish.what also bugs me is that the technological possibilities have grown so much, yet the creativity does seem to fall behind sometimes . sure publishers/market politics have a major impact here.it's interesting to see though, that some of the more interesting stuff comes from those countries who somehow just started to put their foot into the game business. Stalker would be the big example here.

one thing that I think also often hurts the case is the almighty hype machine. it puts all the focus on a very few games and makes it hard to catch attention for anything else. Far Cry stands for both the good and the bad here imho. On one hand it did things a little different and has its share of freshness and while I think its a good game, I do also think it is a little overrated and for whatever reason most reviews simply seem to completely ignore its flaws .Black&white .. yeah, oh how I was looking forward to that and how I enjoyed the first couple of hours playing it, only to certainly but slowly drift away into disappointment then.